Why I work so much...

I work.  A lot.  We all do, right??  Some of us have 1 full-time job and some of us have several part-time jobs. While others are able to truly be a stay-at-home mom with no outside work.  And these jobs, the $$ jobs, are all different to us.  In our family, my income needs to buy food and gas for the family car.  For a family of 6, that can be quite a bit if you think about it.  I also like to have some extra money in there for the little things, like bday presents, a hot lunch at school, or a quick fastfood meal b/c the night is just too hectic.  And so, I wanted to share with you my many money earning jobs and why I do them:)

I work to make my children's lives easier and sometimes to gain a little sanity from the chaos that is motherhood!!

My biggest income right now is watching another baby in my home.  He comes 5 days a week and I make a pretty regular income with him.  This income, if just the one, would barely keep us going on a week to week budget and it would be of the strictest budget out there.  The pitfalls of this job, for me, include being house-bound (I cannot put this child in my car and drive anywhere) and not being able to fully enjoy the days at home with my own children.  Though, on the flip-side, I am able to be with my youngest 2 all day and I am free to wear all the hats of Mom afterschool.  My biggest goal is to try and replace this job with something else that will keep the same income and perhaps let me be able to roam the town a bit more:)  I do watch another little boy once a week, too.

My second biggest income is my work at the library.  I work anywhere from 1-3 days (only 3-4 hrs each day) a week in the children's section.  I love it there.  I have been there for about 3 years now...wow...time flew by there.  We did live on this salary before I got the babysitting gig and it was extremely tough.  We also flew through a lot of our savings (or tax return money) b/c the income was not enough to feed the kids and put gas in our truck.  I stick it out b/c I have hopes to change my hours to during the day once all my children have moved onto school.  I make twice as much $$ per hour here than I do at the babysitting.  And, right now, I generally don't have to hire a babysitter for my children when I work there.  My hours include 1 night a week and weekends.

The next 3 jobs are in no particular order and are extra income that I use to 'catch up' on groceries (stock up), buy some new undies, put gas in hubby's car, pay a babysitter so that we can have a date night, go out with other stressed out mommy's, etc.

Baking- I love to bake and am recently coming into my own with what I make and getting it out there.  At one point (before Max was born), I was actually working for a restaurant supplying all of their desserts.  That was a great experience.  Now, I am concentrating on smaller things like cookies, cake-pops, cakes and cupcakes.  I do have a regular rice pudding guy who orders it every holiday though!!  Selling my stuff is not as regular as I hope it will be one day.  And, I would like to really get my kitchen certified and a business license so that I can see at local Farmers' Markets and/or street fairs.  Time is definitely not on my side for this.  You see, I lack it!! But, the goal is to get this going and perhaps make this more of a full-time gig:)

Photography- These gigs are very sporadic and tend to be the same clientele.  Every now and again, I will get a new client but they come to me from word of mouth.  I don't advertise for these gigs and they usually come in spurts.  I do love taking pictures and I could definitely make more money doing this if I were to try and bring in new clients.  But, from these gigs, I am able to really stock up on bulk items that keep my groceries down.  They are often on weekends and last most of the day.

Birthday Parties- I am a party host at a local pre-school that handles bday parties on weekends.  I have a time slot on saturday afternoons and am available sundays to them when I am not working at the library.  For me, this really isn't a very difficult job and when I do have one, the extra income is nice to have.

We have good weeks and bad weeks here.  This, being a bad week.  You see, my whole family went down with a stomach bug.  And so, the baby I watch has not been here all week and I will not be getting paid at all from this job at the end of the week.  As they say, all things happen for a reason, right??  It's a good thing I have one of those photo gigs this weekend b/c that will pick up the slack.

I miss a lot on these weekends that I work.  As you can only imagine, I very rarely get a day off from any kind of income related job.  I miss bday parties for family and friends.  I miss fun things planned with just adults. I miss having a day or two to just clean my house.  I also miss the simple luxury of just doing nothing...ok, so it's not like that would happen if I were home but we can all imagine, right?  And I can't tell you how guilty I feel when I miss baseball and soccer and family affairs.  My sister-in-law is very intent on making sure I know just how many of her 'family' parties I've missed.  Though, can't say I feel guilty about missing hers...lol... I could wish for it to be different and I can keep trying to think of ways to make it different...but until I do, this is what I've got.  I hate it.  OK???

But, unfortunately, right now in my life, doing all of these things keeps us fed and ready to roll!!  It also makes the difference in being able to get pizza on friday  nights b/c the schedule is so hectic.  Just last year we would have been bringing pb&j to dance on friday nights.  Now, I'm not saying we are destitute, but we have had our ups and downs.  My sources of income keep us more up than down and keeps some of the stress out of hubby's neck!!  And so, I will keep on keeping on to keep us on top!!

If you made it this far, than I guess I should tell you the real reason I work so much... you see, I just want to keep buying my wine!!!  Without it, I don't know where'd I be...lol..  Oh, and I get to buy some liquor too..you know, to make some martini's on those extra special nights!!

Now, you'll have to excuse me...My butt has fallen asleep and I have those unpaid jobs to go finish up:)

Hope you all have a great day!!